Nav view search

Navigation

Search

Remembering

Remembering is a sacred act. There are moments throughout life when one quietly reflects upon the events and people that have influenced or made an impact upon their life, family and the roots from whence they came.

Heritage Books

In Mark Doty's book, Heaven's Coast, he writes: "Remembering is the work of the living, and the collective project of memory is enormous. It involves the weight of all our dead, the ones we have known ourselves and the ones we know only from stories. It is necessary to recall not just names, but also faces, anecdotes, incidents, gestures, tics, nuances, those particular human attributes that distinguish us as individuals. A name after all, stripped of content, is only a name."

The stories and past Black Hills pioneer generations are beautiful family histories, written keepsakes for generations.

It is with these thoughts in mind that the Society of Black Hills Pioneers wishes to continue preserving the history of its members and their families and to perpetuate the privilege of membership in the organization; thus fulfilling the Society's goal of collecting and preserving information connected with early settlement and subsequent history of the Black Hills of South Dakota. The Society also wishes to perpetuate the memories of the region's founding fathers.

On February 15, 1901, Captain Oliver Dotson was found sprawled on the floor of his two-room cabin at his mining claim in Washington Gulch, Montana - dead of a single gunshot wound through the head. A suicide note and a rifle lay next to the body...